Motor vehicles exhibit an interior, and seats are arranged inside the interior. Front seats here exhibit a seat part and a back part, wherein the back part can pivot around a pivoting axis. Rear seats are arranged in back of the front seats inside the interior of the vehicle. The rear seats are here generally combined into a rear seat bench comprised of three rear seats. The back part of the front seats exhibits a front side on a back surface, and a rear side opposite the front side. The rear side of the back part of the front seats here poses a limitation to the knees of individuals or passengers on the rear seats. A partial area of the interior on the rear side of the back part thus represents legroom, within which the legs of individuals are arranged on the rear seats.
Motor vehicles with a crash detection device acquire the distance to the environment of the motor vehicle, allowing a computing unit to detect an impending accident. Starting from the time this impending accident is detected, a pre-crash phase begins and lasts up until the actual collision of the motor vehicle with the environment or up until the accident, and a rearward displacement device can be used during the pre-crash phase to move the front seat of the motor vehicle toward the back around a rearward displacement path, so that individuals on the front seats are farther away from the dashboard and steering wheel, for example, making it possible to better protect these individuals against injury on the front seats. However, if an individual is seated on the rear seat behind the front seat that is moved toward the back with the rearward displacement device during the pre-crash phase, it reduces the legroom for this individual. This can increase the risk of injury to individuals on the rear seats, in particular to their legs.
Known from DE 10 2011 122 203 A1 is a retaining device for a motor vehicle. The retaining device can be used for a rearward displacement to displace a vehicle passenger toward the back over a rearward displacement path opposite the traveling direction in a pre-crash phase before the time of a potential accident.